An equalising goal from Darren Ambrose was enough to earn a 1-1 draw for Crystal Palace against Preston.
Two sides share spoils at Deepdale
An equalising goal from Darren Ambrose was enough to earn a 1-1 draw for Crystal Palace against Preston.
North End remain on the fringes of the playoffs in the Championship table, despite Ross Wallace putting them in front two minutes before Ambrose's goal on 37 minutes.
Wallace fired Preston into a deserved lead with a superb curling free-kick but their advantage did not last long.
Richard Chaplow could have won the game for North End in the final 10 minutes but the midfielder fired wide from in front of goal.
The visitors created the first chance when Alan Lee fired a shot goalwards but
Preston keeper Andy Lonergan turned it over the crossbar.
But Preston soon took control and Palace survived some intense pressure in the 17th minute when Chris Brown met Wallace's corner with a header which looped over goalkeeper Julian Speroni but was nodded off the line by Jose Fonte.
From the resulting corner, Neil Collins got his head to the ball but Speroni was this time able to make the save.
Preston took the lead their dominance merited in the 35th minute when Fonte tripped Brown on the edge of the penalty area.
Scotland midfielder Wallace stepped up and expertly curled the free-kick over the wall and into the top corner of Speroni's net for his second goal of the season.
Setback
But they were pegged back moments later when Ambrose was given too much time to control Lee's header, turn and sweep the ball past Lonergan.
Palace looked the livelier side at the start of the second half, and Lee put a header wide from Danny Butterfield's cross.
Ambrose nearly scored an audacious second when he let fly from all of 35 yards but Lonergan scrambled back and was able to make the save.
Preston thought they should have had a penalty when Shaun Derry appeared to handle in the area, but the linesman had already flagged for offside to the annoyance of the home crowd.
Ambrose tested Lonergan again from another Palace counter-attack, but the best chance of a winner fell to Chaplow seven minutes from time.
Wallace played Chaplow in behind the Palace defence and the midfielder found himself one on one with Speroni, only to screw his shot wastefully wide.
